The University of Rochester, founded in 1850 and located in Rochester, New York, is a private R1 research university known for its rigorous academics and interdisciplinary flexibility. With approximately 6,800 undergraduates and 5,000 graduate students, Rochester offers the resources of a major research institution while maintaining a close-knit academic community.

One of Rochester’s defining features is its Open Curriculum. Instead of a traditional core curriculum, students complete a major along with cluster requirements in two of three academic divisions: natural sciences and engineering, social sciences, and humanities. This structure encourages intellectual exploration while ensuring academic depth and specialization.

The university is particularly renowned for strengths in optics, biomedical engineering, neuroscience, economics, and medicine. Its Eastman School of Music is consistently ranked among the world’s top conservatories, and its affiliated medical center, UR Medicine, plays a leading role in clinical and translational research.

Situated along the Genesee River, the River Campus provides a scenic and academically vibrant environment. Undergraduate research participation is strongly encouraged, with many students engaging in faculty-led research early in their academic careers. Admissions are competitive, with an acceptance rate generally around 30% in recent years, and the university follows a holistic and test-optional review process.

What are University of Rochester looking for?

Be a Yellowjacket

We invite you—the curious, the capable, and the engaged—to apply to our diverse and talented community of changemakers and innovators.

Our promise to you is a holistic, integrated review of your unique academic ability, extracurricular engagement, and ethical character. We strive to admit students who’ll work to make each other, the University, and the world ever better.

As a charter member of the Character Collaborative, we evaluate applicants within the unique context of their environment and their opportunities inside and outside of school. Highly trained admission professionals assess their academic achievement, extracurricular engagement, and ethical character, in order to admit a diverse group of students who will work to make each other, the University, and the world ever better in alignment with URochester’s mission and values.

Our holistic review process for undergraduate applicants includes, but intentionally goes beyond, numerical representations of academic performance, though we certainly expect strong performance in challenging academic coursework. We hope to understand much more about each applicant than simply their grades and standardized test scores. The students for whom URochester is the best fit are driven by their intellectual curiosity and seek out opportunities for growth.

Our admission criteria connect directly to our students’ undergraduate experiences and outcomes through the College Competencies, URochester’s framework for students to tell their story and serve as leaders in our shared future. They were created to ensure URochester students are prepared with the skills employers and society seek in 21st Century college graduates.

Admissions Statistics

ADMISSION INFORMATION

APPLICATION DATES & DEADLINES

Additional essay questions of the application.

The University of Rochester benefactor, entrepreneur, photography pioneer and philanthropist George Eastman said, “The progress of the world depends almost entirely upon education.” In what ways do you envision using the curricular flexibility and co-curricular opportunities at the University of Rochester to promote progress and change within the communities you inhabit? (250 word limit)